You all make a fascinating global community. I'm probably the most boring guy here. I have been teaching introductory physics, math and astronomy at a community college for 30+ years. I was born in Germany but didn't think about my heritage much while I was growing up in Canada. Astronomy is my prime hobby, but I think the Pagodas are exciting. I'm not shy in conversation, but I am timid about starting new projects, so this is a big step for me. Dan (Benz Dr.) found me a "reasonably priced" 1965 230SL last fall (i.e. 2010) and he is guiding me through the process of having it improved. I hope I get the opportunity to go places with it because I look forward to meeting you all at Pagoda events. I have a thousand questions.

Peter Jedicke, London, Canada

Peter? Asking questions? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a grisly poop in the woods?

Hello EverybodyI am an electrical engineer, and the head of electrical maintenance division in the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) in Kuwait. I have been working here for the past 20+ years.a father to 4 wonderful children (3 girls and a boy). I always had a dream of having a W111 and a 113. which I do now.

My cars are:

1973 280SE coupe (W111)1967 250SL which I just bought last week2003 Saab 932008 Toyota Prado Jeep2010 Mitsubishi Pajero Jeepbut you can be sure that I am very proud of my my first 2 cars.

My web name is Treedoc because my other half calls me a tree doctor for which I have no qualifications, so what's my profession?, I'm not too sure wether it's engineering or playing with MB cars.

Spent over thirty years working in the industrial hydraulics industry, designing, building, servicesing and selling different types of special purpose hydraulic powered machines and systems. For stress relief I grow peaches and nectarines on weekends.Got sick of pulling sales engineers out of black holes they ed fallen into and working for companies that where only interested in the bottom line and not how you got there or the people you needed to get you there.

For a change of pace we moved out of the big city, Sydney, to a rural place where the scenery & climate where great and bought an avocado farm, if them hill billy farmers can make a go of it, it should be no trouble for a smart city dude. I now have a totally different appreciation of those folk who can successfully operate an agricultural enterprise for an extended period.

1995 I invented a gadget that the avocado industry and increasing other branch of horticulture and forestry found usefull to the extent that we have exported them to 38 countries, the device is basically a power operated hypodermic injector for trees and succulents see www.treeinjectors.com

Image below is the latest version of our injector head piece, it drills a hole in the tree, screws a self sealing hollow nozzle into the hole and a measured dose of pestercide is forced into the tissue of the tree at high pressure.

So things have gone full circle I'm back to building hydraulic gadgets.

After completing a Masters in international development (macroeconomics) I went as a relief worker to assist civilian populations in war zones, mainly is Sub-Saharan Africa (Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Somaliia etc.). I then completed a PhD still in Development Macroeconomics and joined the European Commission where I was following up relief and then development funding in the Greater Horn of Africa. I then met my wife and followed her to the US, and I'm now working at the World Bank into Disaster Management and developing response strategies (currently on the Horn of Africa drought and the upcoming one in the Sahel).

I've been turning wrenches since I'm a kid, first with bicycles, then motorbikes and then cars. I guess I would be playing with airplanes if I had more money. May be it's a blessing I don't have the means for that as I've always been trying to get things go faster, with some unpredictable results sometimes.

My other hobbies are sailing, trecking, and I also like music and History.

The last book is about Second World War vetran Sam Dunsheath. He flew 19 missions over France into Germany as a tail gunner on a Landcaster bomber. They were attacked by a night fighter and he had to jump out of the burning plane. The French underground hid him until he made it back to the allied lines because he was blinded by the fire in the plane. This will be more of a lfe story as Sam is still alive and I hope to get as much as I can from him while I can.

Dan, do you know where exactly over France this happened? My grandfather was in charge of a "resistance" network which was basically dealing with most things coming from the air: getting to people and materials that were landing (most of the time with gliders) or were parachuted before the Germans did and dispatch them towards the various "maquis". One important part of the job was to get to the pilots and crews that were gunned down before the Germans, hide them and get them medical treatment if needed and then send them back to Britain through resistance networks. They had to cross Britanny from south to north and then sail back to Britain via fishermen networks. Pilots especially were very strategic assets.

South Britanny is not exactly on the way to Germany when flying from the UK but the Atlantic wall built by the Germans to prevent any invasion by sea was a very strategic target that got a lot of bombing and was heavily defended. My father was a kid by then but he remembers these waves of flying fortresses and the ballet of fighters around them - German fighters attacking the fortresses and the allied fighters defending them.

Dan, do you know where exactly over France this happened? My grandfather was in charge of a "resistance" network which was basically dealing with most things coming from the air: getting to people and materials that were landing (most of the time with gliders) or were parachuted before the Germans did and dispatch them towards the various "maquis". One important part of the job was to get to the pilots and crews that were gunned down before the Germans, hide them and get them medical treatment if needed and then send them back to Britain through resistance networks. They had to cross Britanny from south to north and then sail back to Britain via fishermen networks. Pilots especially were very strategic assets.

South Britanny is not exactly on the way to Germany when flying from the UK but the Atlantic wall built by the Germans to prevent any invasion by sea was a very strategic target that got a lot of bombing and was heavily defended. My father was a kid by then but he remembers these waves of flying fortresses and the ballet of fighters around them - German fighters attacking the fortresses and the allied fighters defending them.

Sam really didn't want to talk about it all that much. He still has flash backs and I think it upsets him so I probably won't get much of the story from him.

I know it was about a month or two after D day. He was part of the bombing effort at Cann. This should of have been somewhere around Later July or early August because his crashed Landcaster set fire to a wheat field. The villagers all ran to put the fire out and they pulled three of the crew to safety. One was able to walk away, the pilot was badly injured and they had to leave him for the Germans to pick up. Sam was moved from place to place mostly at night until they were able to get him behind American lines.

I'll find out the name of the village. I think Sam is about 89 and is living at a nursing home.

I hope it's not too far off topic, but regarding the posts from GGR and Dan C, anyone interested in these stories might enjoy "The Girl in the Blue Beret" by Bobbie Ann Mason. I just happen to be reading it now for my book club. It's not a rip-snorting adventure novel, but more of a fictional memoir about a WW2 pilot who goes back to France in 1980 to re-connect with the citizens who helped him get to safety after his B-17 crashed.

While I'm at it, I might as well mention the 2 other novels that I found most stirring on the topic of wartime memories. One is "Losing Julia" and the other "The Distance to Normandy," both by Jonathan Hull.

I have settled down and Iam a private banker but let me tell you what I use to do for 15 years. I opened 56 different nightclubs in the United States. You mention a city and I have probably opened a club there. Denim & Diamonds, Graham Central Station, Banana Joe, Margarita Mamas and Cactus Canyons INTERESTING WORK!Bob

That does seem like it would be very interesting work ... you are probably the only 'nightclub initiator' on the forum!

I am a real estate appraiser working for a small municipality (population 55k) in the Greater Vancouver BC area. Not very sexy job but gives me the time to play with my toys. I figured that you either need lots of time or lots of money to play with toys.

I worked in a family business from age 12, 7 days per week as many hours as possible, getting my education and working to pay for my toy maintenance wasn't no picnic, then after working 3+ years in an extreme paced job working 7 days per week - sometimes up to 14 hours per day, I started having medical issues at 24yrs old. I quit the job and decided to find a job where i got lunch breaks and weekends off.

I have limited mechanical knowledge, no formal training (never even took shop in high school) but have lots of enthusiasm and am not afraid of much in my garage. I'm happier than a pig in the proverbial mucky stuff and am really enjoying this whole 113 thing.

Currently I sell vintage MB parts for Star Quality and SL Autohaus. Previously I was a General Manager for Aircraft Contracting Companies at BWI. I also worked for US Airways for several years as a Ramp Agent. All have been great jobs! Jeff

Logged

Jeff

hank sound

After thirty nine years in the film business as a production sound man, I retired in 04, a production sound mixer. My last project was "And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself" for HBO, directed by the fantastic Australian director, Bruce Beresford. If you movie buffs remember, Bruce was the director of "Driving Miss Daisy", "Breaker Morant" and so many other notables. Well, my feathers really poof out when I am able to say: I was the production sound mixer on that wonderful "Daisy" film. Anyway, I didn't really retire as much as I transitioned - into making "tools for my trade" - - little items that I heard myself say: "I wish I had" regarding a certain "item". That, my friends, is the mother (MOI) giving birth to a possible invention !!

Last I answered this was 7 years ago, when I was taking a break from real work. Since then, I spent time helping to build MDVIP, the nation's largest concierge medicine company. We got bought out by P&G, and I went on to try to apply the same personalized care approach to people who are very sick and very poor. Only downside is that I am almost full time in Seattle, and my 230sl is in Georgia. For anyone interested in what exceptional healthcare can mean to people who have never had it, here is a 4 minute clip of our patients talking about their experience with our service. And no, this is not a third world country. This is Seattle.

I am a naval officer. I acquired my SL from my late father's estate. Every time I do something on it, or take it for a ride, feels like we are reconnecting in a way.

I never had classic car budget or time (3 young children and multiple operational deployments) but was always interested in all classic cars through magazine subscriptions and attending shows. I cannot possibly be interested in a car -or anything material, for that matter- that can be bought in a store, devoid of soul, mass-produced overly sedate transportation appliances. Which is why I kept the SL. I drive it, will enter shows, and have fun honouring my Dad's memory in my own way, trying to include my own kids in the hobby.

It's fun to do something Not Everyone Else Is Doing....like listening to music on vinyl records, or keeping honey bees, "just because".

Welcome to the club of people passionate about the Pagoda. You have an even better reason than most. You reconnect with your Dad every time you look at, drive or work on the car. I hope you never sell it and pass it on to your children. It's funny, when I first bought my 280SL, my teenage daughter thought I was crazy. As I improved it, she's driven it and her boyfriends have gone ape over the car, she now wants the car. It also helps that she has seen the car countless times in fashion magazines. The Pagoda is an icon she has come to appreciate. I have to hide the keys when I go on business trips so she isn't tempted to take it out for a spin! Pretty cool actually.

I hope that my Daughter feels the way you do when I am gone and the car is hers.

I am a Project Manager for Walt Disney Imagineering. In Disney-speak we're called "Imagineers." I work on designing and building new theme-park attractions and rides for Disney. For the past 7 years or so I've been mostly working and living in Paris France expanding Disneyland Paris and before that I worked mostly in Southern California at our home base expanding the original Disneyland. Due this dual life between Paris and Los Angeles, it's been difficult to take the plunge with a Pagoda, but this summer we finally did it.

on a non-related note: I also attended the Euro Event in Belgium this September since I was in Paris and had just acquired a 250sl .... but I went without my Pagoda as it lives in Southern California. I have to say, the folks I met at the event were quite wonderful and welcoming. It's excellent to have found this forum and look forward to learning more about the people and their toys.